No. 2 Whitharral rallies past Follett, 38-21

GROOM - For almost a year, Whitharral's Bobby Martin stewed over last season's loss to Fort Elliot in the area round of the Six-Man playoffs.

The upset loss doused Whitharral's chances of repeating as state champs, a memory Martin couldn't shake.

"That was a tough one. We weren't about to let a (District) 1 team do that again."

Thanks to some big plays by Martin and a three-touchdown performance by junior Freddie Reyna, the second-ranked Whitharral Panthers won't have to relive 2002 as they booted District 1 Follett from the postseason with a 38-21 area-round win Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

Whitharral (12-0) advances to the Six-Man quarterfinals against Sanderson, which hammered Aspermont 83-33.

"We were in the same situation as last year," said Martin, whose team, trailing 15-14 at the time, erupted for three quick touchdowns in the second half.

"We had a lot of motivation coming into this one."

So did Follett (11-1), which grabbed an early 7-0 lead when it took the opening kickoff, stormed 64 yards in 14 plays and scored on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Tanner Woods to Jared Robertson.

With a score that looked more like an 11-man game - Whitharral led 14-7 at the half - Follett nabbed its second lead of the game as the third quarter came to an end.

On the heels of Follett's sixth fourth-down conversion of the contest that got it to the Whitharral 11, Robertson took a reverse from Woods and jetted to the left looking for a crease. He picked up a crucial block from injured Cody Freeman and dove into the end zone to make it 15-14. At that point, head coach Rob Buffa and Follett thought they were in control.

They were wrong.

Whitharral took the ensuing kickoff and quickly reeled off a three-play, 65-yard drive, which was capped by Reyna on a 16-yard scamper. Following a Follett three-and-out, Whitharral took over at the midfield and scored three plays and 38 seconds later to give it the lead for good.

"That was very big for us," said first-year head coach Joe O'Malley, whose team racked up 307 rushing yards.

"We've been down this season and we've always come back. That's what champions do."

Buffa, whose saw his team fumble once in the first half and threw an interception in the third quarter, said Whitharral's depth caught out to Follett by the time the fourth quarter arrived.

"I think coach O'Malley kicked them in the hind end after we scored," he said. "We made too many mistakes and they're a team that has enough players, that they wear you out."

Also hampering Follett was its inability to produce big plays. All told, Follett mustered only two plays that eclipsed 15 yards. Conversely, Whitharral came up with three running plays that went for more than 20 yards. The sophomore Woods, who threw for 30 touchdowns and had just 33 incompletions coming into Friday night's playoff game, never found the rhythm he needed. In all, Woods was 12-of-21 for 91 yards.

Whitarrall 38, Follett 21

Records: Whitharrall is 12-0. Follett finishes 11-1.

Impacts: Whitharral advances to the Six-Man quarterfinals where it will face Sanderson.

Key Stat: The No. 2-ranked Whitharral Panthers scored two second-half touchdowns in a little more than a minute.